Does Cedar Rapids Have a Gun Problem?

If you feel like you've heard about a lot of "shots fired" reports in Cedar Rapids lately, you're right.

The Gazette reports Cedar Rapids saw a record number of these incidents in 2018. At 117 confirmed incidents, it was the highest number of confirmed shots-fired reports in at least at least ten years. October was the worst month with 15 reports followed by May with 14 and December with 13.

The bulk of them were found to be targeted incidents of individuals against one another, and not random acts. Furthermore, Wellington Heights was one of the areas with the highest concentration of shots-fired events.

Police chief Wayne Jerman tells the Gazette it's often hard to get cooperation from witnesses or the people involved.

Whatever your feelings about gun usage and control, we need to get this under control because the people of Cedar Rapids are better than this.